The present invention relates to exercise methods and apparatus and specifically, to exercise equipment which facilitates exercise through an adjustable curved path of motion.
Exercise equipment has been designed to facilitate a variety of exercise motions. For example, treadmills allow a person to walk or run in place; stepper machines allow a person to climb in place; bicycle machines allow a person to pedal in place; and other machines allow a person to skate and/or stride in place. Yet another type of exercise equipment has been designed to facilitate relatively more complicated exercise motions and/or to better simulate real life activity. Some examples of elliptical motion machines are disclosed in published German Patent Appl""n No. 29,19,494 of Kummerlin; U.S. Pat. No. 4,185,622 to Swenson; U.S. Pat. No. 5,242,343 to Miller; U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,729 to Eschenbach; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,529,555 to Rodgers, Jr.
On one hand, an advantage of elliptical motion exercise machines is that a person""s feet travel both up and down and back and forth during an exercise cycle. On the other hand, a disadvantage of these machines is that the person""s feet are constrained to travel through a path which is substantially limited in terms of size and/or configuration from one exercise cycle to the next. Although the above-identified references disclose how to adjust the path of foot travel, the methods are relatively crude, and room for improvement remains.
The present invention provides methods and apparatus to change the size of a path traveled by foot supports which are connected to a crank. Unlike the devices disclosed in prior art references, the present invention allows adjustments to be implemented during exercise motion, in infinitesimally small increments, and/or at the push of a single button. The features and advantages of the present invention may become more apparent from the detailed description that follows.